Posted on 03/25/2017 5:33:48 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
AHCA was pulled from the floor yet again this afternoon, and it now is probable that Obamacare will be the law of the land for years to come. This is an utter disaster for U.S. health care, not to mention individual liberty, and the responsibility rests squarely on shoulders of a small cadre of political opportunists with the effrontery to call themselves the “House Freedom Caucus.”
These people held out for the impossible — full repeal of Obamacare in one fell swoop — and have thus destroyed the only realistic opportunity their party will have in the near future to eradicate the law’s individual and employer mandates, enact entitlement reform, expand HSAs, defund Planned Parenthood, halt the metastasis of Medicaid, and cut its myriad taxes.
Moreover, they have made a mockery of their group’s name by perpetuating the increasingly oppressive and powerful administrative state, leaving their constituents to the tender mercies of Beltway bureaucrats whose contempt for the taxpayers who support them is exceeded only by the breathtaking incompetence with which they mismanage everything they touch.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Less demand means less people in the insurance risk pool = much higher premiums.
What I don’t understand is that the last two days every time I’m away from FR for more than a few hours, we get another negative OP ED elevated to breaking news. Why is that?
The new bill should begin with the premise that health care is a commodity which is subject to the free market with as little interference in that market by the government as possible.
Then allow insurance to be sold across state lines and let people create their own associations to negotiate with insurance companies or create co-ops. After that make changes to the trial lawyer lawsuit crap and we got ourswlves real reform.
“The list of demands from the freedom caucus was included in the bill between Thursday and Friday and they still wouldn’t support it.”
Yup...Trump and Bannon are done with them....and people on FreeRepublic should be done with all the Freedom Caucus supporters here who are masquerading as Trump supporters but really wanted this to fail so they can vote for Reverend Cruz in 2020.
“get a pure bill through to President Cruz”
LOL. They should check what happened in 1993.
1- Democrats controlled the house, senate and the white house.
2- Democrats failed to pass healthcare reform
3- Republicans won back the house and senate in 1994.
4- Bill Clinton got reelected.
Less demand does not equal lower price in the insurance market. As healthy people have wised up to the health insurance ripoff and dropped their coverage under Obamacare, insurers are left with a shrinking pool of customers who have the most expensive claim histories. That’s what drives up the premiums for everyone who is left, thereby driving this death spiral in the insurance industry.
I stand with the truth.
“Totally true. A bunch of spoiled brat egos saved Obamacare.... and irrevocably weakened the entire Trump presidency and agenda.”
I wonder what the Freedom Caucus will find wrong with tax reform plan that comes next. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of “heartfelt passion” BS from the Cruzbots here when they say it must be stopped!! They’ll do and say anything for their next president, Reverend (Jim Jones) Cruz!!
No, Ryancare was a total crap sandwich. Why replace a shitty bill with a shittier bill. Have Rand Paul and his group draft a up a better plan in the Senate
I certainly didn’t put it in “Breaking News.”
Your thinking is so twisted. Done with the FC? All your cater walling is helping no one but democrats.
The truth is that the GOP would have gotten slaughtered in 2018 if this bill had passed, so there was no way the could ever implement this three-step plan. EVERYONE IN THE GOP KNEW THIS.
“Obamacare passed with a simple Majority”
Nope.
“On December 23, the Senate voted 60–39 to end debate on the bill: a cloture vote to end the filibuster. The bill then passed, also 60–39, on December 24, 2009, with all Democrats and two independents voting for it, and all Republicans against”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act
Only an amendment was passed through reconciliation.
Absolutely right. The HFC did the President a yuuuuge favor.
Furthermore, if this had passed, then Paul Ryan would have been in total control regarding this followup phase (phase 3?). Knowing Ryan's sentiments regarding Donald Trump, the President would have been totally at the mercy of the Establishment wing of the GOP.
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that this was a good outcome, versus a bill that would not have reduced Americans' insurance premiums at all over the next 2 years, and a bill that would have been hung around the President's neck via the "Trumpcare" moniker.
Whenever President Trump signs "Trumpcare", it had better be something that;s actually going to help. Why he would want to get branded with that Ryan-care abomination is beyond me.
The Democrats still own Obamacare 100%, and I don't think voters are going to want to put those clowns back in charge of anything anytime soon.
Let the fake news celebrate and gloat. They're in a delusional place which has no relation to the real America that exists outside of their increasingly irrelevant and ever-shrinking echo chamber.
Some people are just unable to take the long view, and they consequently panic needlessly about the short-term; the President didn't panic about this "failure", and neither should his supporters...
Exclamation points again.
REPEAL NOW!! NO REPLACE!!!
Sounds great. Show the text that will do that and pass the Senate.
WHERE IS YOUR LEGISLATION?
And btw, if and when it fails utterly, will you then embrace the concept of not accepting Obamacare, or will you refuse to allow killing any part of it at all?
For God sake, LOOK AT THE SENATE. We have 52. Two of them are up in 2018 and won their seats with less than 50% vote. One is now a solid blue state. Susan Collins is from a blue state. Why in hell do you think REPEAL ONLY will attract the votes of people from very moderate states? In addition to Heller and Flake, who won with less than 50%, there is Murkowski in Alaska who has already made it clear there must be replace. McCain demands replace.
OTHERS DEMAND REPLACE TOO.
So why does it make sense to refuse to gut any part of Obamacare? Do you want it all? Or do you want any part of it gone? If you think you can get it all gone, address those specific constraints above.
You just described what is happening right now. The Ryan plan was specifically designed to break the death spiral.
Under the current system, healthcare costs go up then government subsidies go up, which drive healthcare costs up even further. It’s a never ending cycle. Obama put this on autopilot and the freedom caucus saved it from repeal. Now you know what people are referring to when they talk about “implosion” and “death spiral”.
I guess the Senate or the House could rewrite and introduce a new bill, but if this current bill had been written to satisfy the Freedom Caucus, it had no chance of Senate approval.
The problem with the GOP here is that the Freedom Caucus killed the negotiation process.
The Freedom Caucus is basically saying "no healthcare bill unless we like it."
And considering that it must pass the Senate, the Freedom Caucus is basically saying "no healthcare bill...period."
LOL. You have been right all along.
There is no death spiral. There is no implosion.
All the costs will be paid. If the costs get enormous and devastating THEY STILL GET PAID. Treasury will issue bonds to borrow the money to pay the costs. If that looks systemically threatening, the Federal Reserve will buy those bonds via Quantitative Ease.
There is no stop to Obamacare without legislation. Period.
BALONEY! The House is Republican; they’re supposed to keep their campaign promises, but they’re liars. Congress sent a bill to Obama to repeal obamacare SIXTY TIMES, just for show, knowing he wouldn’t sign it. They sent a very good bill to him that had everything we the people have been asking for, when they were the minority, knowing Obama wouldn’t sign it. If they would send THAT bill, Trump would sign it, but they don’t really want that bill signed, because it doesn’t benefit insurance, pharmaceutical, and healthcare lobbyists. They have no intention of doing the things they promised the American conservatives, when running for election. The conservatives are NOT at fault, here. They worked hard, and finally got some concessions added. But as soon as that happened, the Rinos and other left leaning republicans refused to sign on to that. Blame them. THEY’RE the ones who really DON’T WANT to drain the swamp. They like it there. They’re abundantly rewarded by special interests by keeping the swamp status as is.
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